


Goldenheart

by Akumeoi



Series: All Covered In Gold [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crownsguard!Prompto, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompto joining the Crownsguard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-17 18:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14836893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akumeoi/pseuds/Akumeoi
Summary: Immediately after the Crownsguard joining ceremony, Prompto bolts for Noctis's room and refuses to come out. Noctis tracks him down to find out what's wrong, and accidentally uncovers a secret Prompto didn't even know he had.





	Goldenheart

Noctis had never been prouder of Prompto than the moment he stood before the Crystal, ready to complete his Crownsguard joining ceremony. Moments later, Prompto was trying to hide a nervous smile as Noctis called upon the gods to give Prompto the power to protect Lucis - and him. But as Prompto summoned his new weapon from the Armiger for the first time - a matched set of pistols - his expression faltered. Before Noctis knew it, the ceremony was over and Prompto had bolted out of the throne room, rudely ignoring other members of the Crownsguard who had wanted to congratulate him.

“Well, I suppose you’d better go after him,” Ignis said, his eyes narrowed in disapproval as he looked at the door through which Prompto had just escaped. “Running out right after receiving the first royal honour of his life does not seem like something he would do.”

Was it anxiety, or something less sinister? _Maybe heartburn_ , Noctis thought as he headed for his private quarters, hoping that’s where Prompto had gone. When he made it inside, he saw that the bathroom door was shut. Prompto was probably in there puking from the stress of doing a public ceremony, or something. Noctis felt bad.

“Prompto?” Noctis called, heading for the bathroom door. When there was no answer, he rapped on the door with his knuckles. Still nothing. 

“I’m coming in,” Noctis said, pushing the door open. At that same moment, Prompto said frantically, “No wait, don’t!” but it was too late. The door swung wide, and Noctis saw his best friend standing at the sink, his Crownsguard jacket thrown aside. 

His whole body was glowing a liquid, velvety gold. His clothes glimmered as if they had been coated in fine particles of golden dust, while his skin was radiant, shining from within. The brightest glow originated from his torso, as if he had a tiny sun lodged in the centre of his chest. 

“Holy shit…” Noctis breathed, coming into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him, then locking it. He didn’t know what he was seeing, but he knew it was something they had probably better keep to themselves. His movement was not lost on Prompto, who turned to him with panicked eyes. 

“So what, is this like, normal?” he said, then bit his lip. “Because if it is, you could’ve warned me.” He made an attempt at a chuckle, but it just sounded hollow. 

Noctis shook his head, coming to Prompto’s side to get a better look. Up close, it was clear that whatever this was, it could only be magical in origin. “Kinda looks like Oracle magic,” Noctis said, frowning, even as he wondered what Prompto could possibly need to be healed from badly enough for his entire body to glow.

“Do you think,” Prompto started. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “This could be the gods. Punishing me.”

“For what?” Noctis said, shocked. If the gods were punishing Prompto, he would run right back to the throne room and tell the Crystal to knock it off directly. He would take a sledgehammer to the damn thing if he had to. 

“Well, I,” Prompto said, and stopped, turning away from Noctis as if he could just block out this entire situation to stop it from happening. The glow in his chest was pulsing, Noctis realised, as if it were beating in time with his heart. And his heart was beating wildly fast. Prompto must have been in shock. Noctis sort of was too, but he needed to understand. 

“What is it?” he said. Prompto shook his head. 

“Noct, I, I can’t,” he said, his voice aching and on the verge of tears. “It’s nothing, just forget it. I can’t tell you. And even if I did… I think you would just hate me. Please.”

Noctis felt like he’d been punched in the gut. What kind of thing could Prompto possibly have done to make him think Noctis would hate him? Was he being paid to be Noctis’s friend, or working for his enemies? Could Prompto really do something so outlandish? Noctis tried to rationalise. Maybe it was it something stupid, something only Prompto would think mattered. This could be like that one time he broke one of the ornamental vases in the Citadel. He had seemed to think then that that was an offence worth ending their friendship over. Noctis had vehemently but gently disagreed. Gods willing, it would be the same thing now.

Noctis took a breath. “You see this door?” he said, and Prompto cracked an eye at it. “It’s locked. Nothing you say goes beyond this door.”

Prompto opened his mouth. Closed it again. The glow in his chest was flashing like a siren, a warning call. _Beat-beat-beat_ went his heart, singing _danger-danger-danger_. 

But at last he shook his head. “I can’t say it,” he said, his voice nothing more than a whisper. “Can I write it?”

In reply, Noctis simply took out his cellphone. With fumbling hands, Prompto took it from him, pulling up the notepad app and typing a quick message on it. He deliberated over it for just a few minutes, his heart beat-beat-beating all the while.

Then he handed the cellphone back to Noctis.

 _I am from Niflheim_ , Prompto’s message read. _I am not working for them, but I think I was supposed to be. My parents have files about me, but I don’t know what they say. I’m sorry, Noct._

When Noctis looked up, Prompto was bracing himself against the sink with both arms, his head bowed and shoulders hunched. Noctis’s heart clenched again, this time for entirely different reasons. How could he have failed to notice the Prompto was this scared? What had he done to make Prompto think hating him for where he came from was an option for Noctis under any circumstances?

“Hey,” he said softly. “If people were punished by the gods just for being from Niflheim, I think their whole country would have been smote off the face of Eos already.”

“But none of _them_ tried to join the Crownsguard,” Prompto said, his voice slightly muffled. 

“You didn’t just try, you _did_ join the Crownsguard,” Noctis said. He raised his hand tentatively, then placed it on Prompto’s shoulder. Prompto’s whole body twitched violently in shock, as if Noctis had just electrified him. But when he went to pull his hand away, Prompto yelped and leaned back - into his arms. 

Noctis found himself with an armful of Prompto, still glowing and covering his face with his hands. To Noctis’s horror, he saw tears leaking out from under Prompto’s palms, and now he could hear him sniffling. 

“Hey, hey,” he said, turning Prompto’s body away from his awkward side-angle so that they would be face-to-face as Noctis held him. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. Seriously. It’s okay.”

He felt his words to be pathetically inadequate, especially when one moment later Prompto was bursting into full-on sobs. Noctis held him close, stroking his hair with one hand the way he remembered his dad doing for him as a kid. As Prompto drenched his shoulder, Noctis’s eye fell on Prompto’s discarded Crownsguard jacket, and remembered: this was supposed to be a good day. 

“Prompto, I’m so sorry,” he burst out, clutching Prompto tighter. He could feel Prompto trembling in every bone in his body.

Still crying, Prompto tried to speak. “I’m not-” he got out, took a few deep breaths. “Not crying b-because I’m sad. It's okay. I-it's okay.” He pushed his forehead into the crook of Noctis’s neck, and Noctis let out a sigh of relief, brushing his cheek against Prompto’s hair. And after a few more heaving sobs, Prompto began to calm. 

Prompto’s voice was quiet as he spoke next. “I was so scared you would hate me.”

Gently, Noctis ran a hand through his hair. The bathroom was quiet and still, filled with only their breathing. 

“Never,” Noctis said. 

They stood together for a long while, Prompto’s heaving breaths softly dying down. The glow around him seemed to be fading, but slowly. The pulse of gold in his chest was slow and steady, calming. Noctis was feeling better, too. Now that he knew Prompto wasn’t sad, he was just enjoying the feeling of holding him and… comforting him. Prompto belonged here, in Noctis’s arms. Where no crystals, no gods, and absolutely no one from Niflheim could touch him - ever.

The door handle rattled, startling them, and they heard Ignis’s voice. “What are you two doing in there?”

Noctis and Prompto looked at each other, Prompto with concern, and Noctis with a smirk.

“We’re smoking weed,” he said loudly. Prompto’s jaw dropped, and then he grinned wide and hid his smile underneath his hand. 

They couldn’t really hear Ignis sigh through the door, but Noctis’s mind filled in the details. “Yes, I’m sure you are. Boys, if it’s not an emergency, I’d like to see the both of you out here in a few moments. I have it on good authority that you have quite a bit of homework to do.”

Prompto was still gold and glowing, but not as noticeably as before. Still, Noctis didn’t think it was safe for them to leave yet. Ignis had keen eyes. “It’s an emergency,” he answered. “Blaze it.”

This time, Prompto had to stifle some giggles by stuffing his fist into his mouth. 

“I expect you out in half an hour at the most,” Ignis said disapprovingly. Noctis shrugged, finally letting Prompto go as they heard Ignis’s walk away from the bathroom door.

“Thanks, Noct,” Prompto said, giving him a grateful smile. “You’re the best friend a guy could have.”

Noctis felt like his chest was glowing like Prompto’s still was, golden. 

“Yeah, I have my moments,” he said. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Several weeks after that incident, Noctis was lying face-down in bed in his apartment, while the rain lashed the windows. Combat training combined with the bad weather were making his back ache, and he wasn’t in the mood to get up and play Assassin’s Creed.

He heard the door to his apartment open and close, and groaned, hoping it wasn’t Ignis with another folder full of paperwork for him. Then he heard feet pounding in the hallway and knew it would be Prompto - just before the man himself burst into the room, totally soaked from head to toe. 

“Hi, Noct!” he said cheerfully, then noticed Noctis squinting at him from the bed. “Not feeling too good, huh?” he said, dropping his messenger bag to the ground. It wasn’t wet - Prompto seemed to have wrapped it in a clear plastic garbage bag. Noctis grunted. 

“I’ll be there in a second,” Prompto said, starting to strip off all of his clothes. He didn’t seem to mind that Noctis was watching him undress, rub himself vigorously with a clean towel from the laundry pile which he then dropped on the floor, and get dressed again in Noctis’s clothing. Noctis gave a little snort of amusement when he saw Prompto going straight for his closet, and Prompto made a big show of sniffing all the boxers on the laundry pile to make sure they were clean. Prompto had known it was raining when he had left the house - he could have brought a change of clothing for himself - or a raincoat. Little shit.

“So,” Prompto said, as he pulled on Noctis’s favourite shirt with the skulls around the collar, “I decided to look through those files my parents have on me.”

“Hmm?” Noctis said. 

“It’s kindof a funny story. But apparently I’ve been walking around with a non-contagious form of the Starscourge since I came here from Niflheim,” Prompto said. Noctis made a strange choked sound in the back of his throat. “This is a little out there, but I think that Crystal sensed I had the Starscourge and healed me. So you were right, Oracle magic.”

“You’re welcome,” Noctis said, still trying to wrap his mind around what Prompto was saying. “You sure you weren’t contagious?”

“Files said I wasn’t,” Prompto said, sitting down on the bed beside Noctis. “Besides, if I was, some people would probably have died by now. Are you lying like this because your back hurts?”

“Yeah,” Noctis said, shoving his face back into the pillow. 

“Hmm,” Prompto said. He didn’t say anything for a moment, which was unusual for him. Noctis waited, expecting Prompto to flop down beside him and keep him company until he began to feel better. But instead, Prompto said, “I’m gonna touch your back.”

Noctis groaned. He really did not want to be touched. But he wasn’t in the mood to argue about it, either. 

“I know, I know,” Prompto said apologetically. “Just give me a second.”

Noctis felt his t-shirt being hiked up, exposing the scared tissue of his lower back. He did not like that either, but he said nothing. There was more silence, and then Prompto was delicately placing both palms face-down against Noctis’s skin.

It didn’t hurt. It felt sort of… warm and tingly. Noctis’s interest was aroused, but he didn’t say anything, still. 

Something seemed to release inside of his back, something deep and sharp and buried, and all of a sudden the pain was fading away. Noctis gave a profound sigh of relief, his body relaxing into the mattress. Prompto’s hands swept over his back, from the waistband of his jeans all the way up to his shoulder blades, erasing pain wherever they went. 

“Is it working?” Prompto said. 

“Gods, yes,” Noctis breathed. “How are you doing that?”

“Another funny story,” Prompto said, stilling his hands in their original position on Noctis’s lower back. “A couple weeks back, I cut my hand when I was making a sandwich - yeah, I know, I’m dumb - and it healed pretty much instantly. I’ve been, uh, experimenting since then. If the gods gave me magic, they gave it to me for a reason. And besides… I know how you get, and I wanted to help you.”

Noctis flipped over onto his back, grabbed Prompto’s gold-glowing hands, and pulled him down on top of him in a hug. 

“Woah,” Prompto said, startled but pleased. “Hi, Noct,” he added, as they came up nose-to-nose. He was warm in Noctis’s arms, clean-smelling from the rain, hair damp but skin dry and snug in royal black clothing that was slightly too big for him.

“You are amazing,” Noctis said, pressing their foreheads together.

Prompto laughed breathlessly. “I have my moments,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Promptis week 2018 day 4: Prompto joining the Crownsguard + hurt/comfort. It's also based on [my headcanons about the abilities he has during Episode Prompto where he glows gold and stuff](https://a-still-small-vox.tumblr.com/post/168127699668/promptos-gold-light-powers). He's magic ok it's canon
> 
> Comments always welcome!


End file.
